Hot Coco with Cinnamon
by DarylDixon'sgirl1985
Summary: Emma has a run in with a handsome stranger outside of Granny's dinner. A run in which ends in a second cup of hot chocolate with cinnamon and intrigue.
1. Hot Coco with Cinnamon

**Hey everyone. This story was brought to you by Minor Pairing Prompt Challenge on Once Upon a Challenge Forum. I wrote for prompt number 2 which was cinnamon. I hope you enjoy this nice little Meet Cute. **

The waft of cinnamon floated up from the Styrofoam cup in Emma Swann's hands as she raced back to her yellow bug on her way to begin her day of work at the Sheriff's office. This was starting to be her daily routine. Wake up, shower, dress, making breakfast for Henry and herself. Then she'd get Henry off to school. After that she'd go to Granny's for a nice warm cup of hot chocolate with cinnamon in it to take to work.

So lost in her own thoughts about what she had yet to do that day Emma had been paying attention to where she was going. Which, of course, lead to her rushing head long into the muscled chest of someone a bit taller than she was.

"I'm so sorry," a masculine voice said from above her.

A hand came into her view. Taking the hand she allowed herself to be pulled up to a standing position. It was then that she realized the cup she'd been holding wasn't in her hands any longer.

"I'm going to be late," she muttered looking down at the now empty cup of what was supposed to be her hot chocolate.

"Let me make it up to you," the man told her with slight smile on his face. He motioned her back towards Granny. "I feel so terrible for running into you like that."

Emma nodded as she picked up the empty cup and tossed it into a nearby trashcan as she followed the man back towards. "I don't think we've met before," she said as they reached the door. "I'm Emma Swan."

"I'm Robin," he said holding out his hand to her.

The tingle that went down her arm as their hands touched told Emma she was meant to meet this man today. Following Robin over to the counter she could already see Granny's confused look.

"What can I get you both?" Granny asked the confusion leaking from her face to her voice.

"I accidentally made Miss Swan spill her first drink," Robin told her. "So, we'll take what Miss Swan had earlier, a coffee black, and small hot chocolate."

Granny placed the order and gave him the amount due. Emma tried to pay for her drink but Robin insisted that he would pay for the drink that he'd ruined for her.

"Thank you, Robin," Emma smiled.

"Coffee black, Small hot chocolate, and a hot chocolate with cinnamon to go," Granny called as she placed the cup holder of drinks on the counter.

"Thank you, Granny," Robin and Emma said at the same.

"Perhaps we'll meet here again tomorrow?" Robin asked. Just as Emma was about to answer his cell phone rang. He answered the phone as she mouthed 'see you tomorrow.".

Emma was just heading out the door as she heard Robin tell someone named Roland that he was bringing home his hot chocolate. _Maybe one of these days she'd find out who Roland was, _she thought as she finally got into the yellow bug and drove off towards the Sheriff's office and the beginning of her day.

**I hope you all enjoyed Hot Coco with Cinnamon.**


	2. Looking Up

It was a stressful day at the Hood house since the minute that Robin had woken up to the ringing of his house phone. It had been a creditor calling to tell him that he owed money on a credit card he didn't know he owned. The card was in the name of Zelena his ex-girlfriend, of course. He'd promptly canceled the card and given them Zelena's number so that the right person could be held responsible for the debt.

"Daddy," came Roland's hoarse voice from doorway, "I don't feel good." Roland began to cough viciously. The sound a rough painful scraping sound that made Robin get out of bed to see what was wrong.

"What hurts, Roland?" he asked picking up his son. He could feel that boy was fevered as soon as his hands touched the heated skin. He carried Roland back his room putting the child back in bed. "Sit tight, Roland." He raced back towards his bathroom to get the child thermometer that he kept in his medicine cabinet.

Stumbling over the throw rug in the hallway he almost fell on his way back breaking a vase in the hallway. It wasn't the first time since Marian's death and his break ups with Regina Mills and her half sister Zelena that he wished he had some help. Someone who knew what they doing in regards to taking care of children.

"Daddy," came Roland's voice hoarsely floating through the air.

"I'm coming buddy," Robin called as he moved the broken shards of vase off to the side of the hallway so that he could pick them up after he took his son's temperature.

Sitting down on the side of Roland's bed he placed the thermometer against Roland's forehead bringing it away with a temperature of 99.9 degrees. Sighing he watched the tired eyes of his son stare up at him.

"My throat hurt," Roland whined sadly.

"I think we might have to take you to the doctor's office," Robin told his son as he gathered the clothes that Roland had picked out for himself last night.

"I don't want to," cried Roland.

Roland had never really liked going to the local pediatrician. Robin never really got that. Dr. Alice seemed a very nice sort of woman to him and she was always kind with Roland. But Roland didn't like dealing with her for some reason.

"But you're sick, Roland," Robin tried to reason with the boy running his hand through his hair. "You want to get better. Don't you?" He studied the young boy's inquisitive face.

Roland nodded as he looked up at his father.

"Then I'll make you a deal," Robin told the boy looking him straight in the eye. "If you go to the doctor's no argument today I'll go and get you some hot chocolate from Granny's." He studied the boy yet again as he held out his hand to shake his son's. "Do we have deal?"

A small sigh left Roland's mouth. "Deal," he shook his father's hand resignedly.

Once both father and son were dressed for the day Robin took Roland to the doctor's office. There didn't seem to be many people in the waiting room so the visit was actually pretty quick for once. Roland was diagnosed with a common cold which seemed strange to Robin seeing as Roland kept complaining about his throat hurting. But the doctor told his it was just a cold. After paying for the visit Robin took Roland home.

"Granny's," Roland whined.

"I didn't forget," Robin told his son. "But you should be resting. I'm going to call Uncle Little John so he can come over and watch you while I go pick up some medicine and your hot chocolate for you. How does that sound?"

Once he'd called Little John, who came over shortly after the call, Robin made his way quickly to the drug store and picked up cough medicine and cough drops for Roland. Along with a couple of boxes of tissues just to be safe.

It was on his way from the car that his day started to look up in an abundant way. He hadn't been paying attention to where he was going as he crossed the street and felt someone collide against his chest. The sound of a Styrofoam cup hitting the ground and liquid splashing out was heard along with a feminine oaf from the ground.

"I'm so sorry," Robin said as he realized he'd just run into the Sheriff of Storybrooke. He held out a hand to help her up from the ground and couldn't help but admire the cute blonde woman

An electric shock went up his arm as Emma Swan took his hand and allowed him to help her up. He'd only met the woman a handful of times before and didn't really know her that well. But he could tell that she'd felt the connection between them the same time he had.

"I'm going to be late," she murmured to herself as she looked at the empty cup that she'd just picked up.

"Let me make it up to you," Robin told her as he motioned for her to follow him back towards Granny's which looked like the place she'd been coming from. "I feel so terrible for running into you like that."

"I don't think we've met before," she told him quizzically making his heart stutter at the fact that she didn't realize they'd actually met before. "I'm Emma Swan."

"I'm Robin," he told her as he held the door open for her. He couldn't truly blame her forgetting that they'd met after the amount of times this town had been cursed to forget things in the past.

"What can I get you both?" Granny asked the confusion leaking from her face to her voice.

"I accidentally made Miss Swan spill her first drink," Robin told Granny as waited patiently for their order. "So we'll take what Miss Swan had earlier, a coffee black, and a small hot chocolate please."

Granny placed the order for them as she totaled up the receipt for him. After paying Robin walked back over to where Emma stood and was about to begin a small conversation with him when his cell phone rang. The caller id said Little John.

"Thank you, Robin," Emma said as Robin declined the call.

"You're very welcome," Robin answered trying to think of some small talk. But what was there to talk about that the Sheriff didn't already know about this small town.

"Coffee black, small hot chocolate, and hot chocolate with cinnamon to go," Granny called out as she placed the order on the counter in it's cup carrier and went to take the order of one the other patrons of the dinner.

"Thank you, Granny," both Robin and Emma said at the same time.

"Perhaps we'll meet here again tomorrow?" Robin asked Emma. Emma was about to answer his question when his cell phone rang yet again. Looking at the caller id it yet again said Little John. As he answered the phone he saw Emma mouth 'see you tomorrow'. He nodded as he said, "Hello."

"Daddy what's taking you so long?" Roland's voice asked over the phone.

"I'll be home soon, Roland," he told his son as he saw Emma leave the dinner. "I'm leaving now. I'll be home in five minutes. I promise."

After exchanging a few more words with his son and Little John Robin hung up the phone and began the walk home. His mind once more traveled to Emma Swan and he was abundantly sure that she was one of the reasons his day was looking up.


	3. Under a Starry Sky

**Hey everyone. This story was brought to you by the Minor Pairing Prompt List Challenge on Once Upon a Challenge!. For this story I wrote for prompt number 3 which was holding hands. Warning for a huge a mount of fluff and mentions of character death. I hope you all enjoy Under a Starry Sky.**

The second time Robin runs into Emma he's out taking a walk with his son, Roland, to settle the young child down for his bed time. Roland usually liked to take a walk before bed time and it was healthy so Robin didn't complain.

"Daddy," Roland asked as they walked down the street, "why did mommy leave us like she did?"

Robin stopped in his tracks not expecting the question to come from his young son. He blinked down at his child not knowing how to answer such an adult question coming from such a young child. "Sometimes people don't really have a choice..." his voice faltered him at this point. Tears coming to his eyes as the thought of how to explain Marian's death escaped him.

"Robin," a female voice from him called saving him from answering the question. Or at least giving him some time think up the proper answer for his son's question.

"Hello, Emma," he said turning to her with a smile that screamed all the thanks in the world to her. "What brings you out tonight?"

"I was just on my way to Granny's to pick up some hot chocolates for Henry and me," Emma told him smiling down at Roland. "You must be Roland. It's very nice to meet you."

Roland smiled up at Emma and then turned to his father. "Can we go to Granny's with Emma?" he asked giving his father puppy dog eyes which he knew would get him pretty much anything.

"I think we should probably get you back home," Robin stated trying not give in. But one look at his son's face had him soon changing his mind. "Of course. That is if it's alright with Emma?"

Emma nodded. "The more the merrier," she stated. "I'll just text Henry and see if he wants to meet us there instead." She took out her phone and sent off quick text to Henry.

"We don't mean to intrude," Robin told her. "Especially seeing as you're trying spend time with your son."

"It's no intrusion," she told Robin holding her phone. "Henry said he'd meet us there." Emma knelt down to Roland's height and smiled at him. "Shall we head on our way?"

Roland nodded.

Emma smiled getting up and the three of them began walking down the street. It was a shock to Robin when he saw Roland not only take his hand but Emma's too. The three of them walking down the street holding hands felt so natural to him that he didn't want the walk to end.

**I hope you all enjoyed Under a Starry Sky.**


	4. The Stars Wait for No Man

**Hey everyone. Here is another chapter of Hot Coco with Cinnamon. It was brought to you the Minor Pairing Prompt List Challenge on Once Upon a Challenge. The prompt I used was number 4 which was stars. Warning for fluff. Major fluff. Word Count without Author's Note 494. I hope you all enjoyed chapter 4 of Hot Coco with Cinnamon The Stars Wait for No Man. **

Robin finds it strange when Emma comes up to him followed by her son, Henry, who looks a little annoyed. He wasn't expecting to see her any time sooner than their usual visits at Granny's. But here they were standing in front of him in silence.

"Henry," Emma said in that voice she used when he was being stubborn, "don't you have something you'd like ask Robin?"

Henry sighed and scuffed his sneakers on the ground looking like he'd rather be anywhere else but there. "I have this assignment that I have to do for school," he began grudgingly. "We have to do a star map or something like that for science. Mom said that you might be good at something like that and I was wondering if you would be willing to help me out."

Robin looked over at Emma who was smiling. "I would love to help you out, Henry," Robin answered. "Maybe your mother could come too and bring the hot chocolate of course."

Emma beamed at this and nodded excitedly. She'd always imagined getting Henry, Roland, and Robin together and this in her mind was the perfect way to do that.

"Perhaps you can bring Roland along too," she suggested. "I'm sure he'd like to join the group and that way Little John can take a day off and see his girlfriend."

Robin considered what he was being told. He promised he'd spend more time at home with Roland after the whole Zelena and Regina incident and what better way to keep that promise than this.

"Sounds good," Robin said. "We'll meet up at Granny's then and make our way to clearing in the middle of town. Those that sound good?"

Emma nudged Henry who nodded.

As the sky started to darken that night Emma, Henry, Roland, and Robin met up at the counter of Granny's dinner. Robin had called ahead and order hot chocolates for everyone. He even remembered the way Emma and Henry liked to drink their chocolate. With cinnamon sprinkled in it. To his relief Henry seemed to have lost his previous attitude. He didn't want to replace Henry's father but he also wanted to get to know Emma's small family and become part of their little world.

"I ordered hot chocolates for everyone," Robin said as he held out the still steaming drink.

"Thank you, Robin," Henry said looking sheepish. "I wanted to apologize for..."

"It's understandable. You don't have anything to apologize for at all." He smile over at Emma and then motioned towards the door. "Shall we head off then. The stars wait for no man."

As they neared the clearing Emma and Robin couldn't help but smile at each other they watched Henry and Roland, who were ahead of them, pointing out the constellations they knew. Who knew the stars would bring them all together.

**I hope you all enjoyed The Stars Wait for No Man.**


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